Benwell Temple Of Antenociticus

While roaming about the north east you'll be inundated with Roman historical buildings, walls and artefacts. Now the Romans were a pretty religious bunch and worshipped a lot of deities especially the centurions that were stationed on Hadrian's Wall.

This sweet little temple located in Benwell on the outskirts of Newcastle was dedicated to Antenociticus. There isn't a lot of information on Antenociticus so it's thought that this was a local deity.

The temple is positioned within the vicus, or civilian settlement, adjacent to the Benwell Fort (Condercum), which was among the 13 permanent forts strategically added to Hadrian's Wall during its construction. It was thought this template was erected around AD 178-80.

The temple's discovery in Benwell yielded a sandstone head of Antenociticus' statue in 1862. The sculpture showcases a torc around the neck and hair that forms a forward curl resembling horns. Fragments of the lower leg and forearm were also uncovered, indicating the presence of a life-sized statue of the deity within the temple. the head is now located in the Great North Museum and here is a picture that we took when we visited.

Architecturally, the temple assumes the form of a small rectangular building with a rounded end. Crafted from sandstone rubble with ashlar facing, remnants of its walls still stand roughly half a meter high.

Despite a fire ravaging the temple in AD 196, it was carefully reconstructed and remained in use until the culmination of the Roman presence in Britain during the 5th century.

Here is a quick photo of how it would have looked back in the day taken from the information board.